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First-quarter stats paint interesting picture

by
Rob Vollman

A quarter of the 2015-16 NHL regular season is complete, and a look at the numbers reveals some rather interesting statistics at the individual, team and League levels.

Rob Vollman is a pioneer in the field of hockey analytics and the co-author of Hockey Abstract. His innovations include Player Usage Charts on Home Plate Save Percentage. He will contribute a regular column to NHL.com throughout this season.

Going into this season, Ryan had 11 goals in 39 shootout attempts, and has already set a personal high with five shootout goals. No one else has scored more than two, including teammates Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad. Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg, one of the players for whom Ryan was traded to Ottawa, also has two shootout goals.

The day Aaron Ekblad was born, Jagr had already scored 525 NHL points. He actually played two NHL games against Guy Lafleur, and has been playing longer than nine NHL franchises have existed, including his own. Most impressive, Jagr has scored 180 points in 246 games since turning 40, which is more points than all but three of his current teammates.

The Stat: Outscored 60-27 during the final two periods of games, the widest discrepancy in the NHL.

The Flames have outscored opponents 18-14 in the first period, but have been outscored by 33 goals through the second and third periods, the widest margin by 13 goals. This is in stark contrast to last season, when Calgary outscored opponents 99-68 in the third period.

Worst Goal Differential in 2nd and 3rd Periods, 2015-16

Team

GF

GA

Diff

Calgary Flames

27

60

-33

Anaheim Ducks

22

42

-20

Columbus Blue Jackets

37

52

-15

Carolina Hurricanes

30

43

-13

Philadelphia Flyers

24

34

-10

Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg Jets

The Stat: 12.0 shots per 60 minutes, ninth in the NHL.

It's unusual for a 19-year-old rookie to rank among the League leaders in any category, but Ehlers has been taking a lot of shots. He averaged 13.2 shots per 60 minutes through the first 17 games on a line with Mathieu Perreault and Mark Scheifele, and is averaging 6.4 shots per 60 minutes on a line with Alexander Burmistrov and Chris Thorburn.

The Stat: 218 minutes played without being on the ice for any of his team's goals.

Chicago has scored 57 goals in 2015-16, but none with Desjardins on the ice. He has played 18 games and averaged 12:07 of ice time per game, but the Blackhawks have no goals in any man-power situation, allowing 14.

Be warned, however, that a reliance on spectacular goaltending has sometimes signaled a collapse for the team, based on previous League leaders Mike Smith in 2011-12, Ryan Miller in 2012-13, and Semyon Varlamov in 2013-14.

Fortune has certainly smiled on the Rangers. At 5-on-5, they lead the League with a 10.9 shooting percentage and a .961 save percentage, for a 107.0 SPSV, and have escaped the first 20 games almost completely free of injuries.

With four man-games lost to injury through the first 20 games, the Rangers are tied for fourth for fewest man-games lost to injury by a team in any 20-game stretch in the past six years.

Fewest Man-Games Lost (MGL) to Injury in a 20-game stretch, 2010-11 to Present

Despite an 11-5-3 record, the Minnesota Wild are the only NHL team without an empty-net goal.

In contrast, the Dallas Stars have nine empty-net goals, which matches Minnesota's total for last season, and the Montreal Canadiens have two players with three empty-net goals each, Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec. Montreal and Dallas are the only two teams to not allow an empty-net goal.

The Stat: 1.5 shooting percentage, lowest in the NHL (minimum one goal).

After scoring on 10.2 percent of his shots throughout his seven-season NHL career, Voracek had one goal in 67 shots to start the season.

Voracek's 1.5 percent shooting percentage was the lowest in the League among players with at least one goal. Another surprise is that three of the five lowest shooting percentages among forwards are playing for the Anaheim Ducks.

After 37 assists in 117 games in the top Swedish league, and 29 assists in 65 NHL games last season, Klingberg has 19 assists in 21 games, which is tied for the League lead.

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have been on fire and have boosted the scoring of everyone fortunate enough to share the ice with them. This even extends to Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen, the only two goalies in the League with two assists.

Boston is the first team to score 20 power-play goals this season, and in 62 opportunities, the fifth fewest in the NHL. This is a big improvement from last season, when the Bruins scored 38 goals in 213 opportunities, which ranked 27th in the League.

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